Every December, instead of selecting a small pine tree, lugging it inside my apartment, and covering it with baubles and lights, I pull out the above quote from Albert Camus’ essay “Return to Tipasa” and share it with friends and loved ones. The message of this single sentence has been the core of my own contemplative practice for the past ten years and is always received with gratitude and nods of agreement.
We’re delighted to welcome you to the fifth-year anniversary edition of Leaping Clear!
We invite you to enjoy the many manifestations of visual art, music, and writing. In crafting this issue, we’ve found the beauty, power, and contemplative spirit of our contributors both moving and inspiring.
This poem has a quality of lightheartedness about so many difficulties, a sweet reminder to keep an open heart/mind.
Elvira Piedra captures, in her photographs of flowers, an almost aching quality of beauty that feels like an exploration of the cycle of life. These are extraordinary pieces of art.
If you have the time to go to Roseminna’s website or to watch her playing on YouTube, you will experience how she embodies the music. There is nothing between you and the music. In Limbic Hymnal she entwines her voice with the violin; it is eerie, gripping, passionate, and beautiful.
Each piece of Virginia Ray’s work invites / engages the imagination, giving the viewer the opportunity to join in, to continue the tale that began long before Virginia picked up the pieces and rebirthed them in a whole new life.
The ability of Geraldine DeLuca to hear, appreciate, learn & give to the reader the very deep kindness, humor & tenderness of Vinny Ferraro’s experience & teaching is simply a treasure.
As summer draws on, Patty Somlo’s poignant image of hiking, mental health, and meditation reminds us that the movement of our bodies and the stillness of our minds are ongoing, imperfect, and beautiful practices of living.
Carol Tyx catches the blur of perception between movement and stillness in this sensitive poetic glance.
The eerie, ethereal atmosphere of Rosalyn Driscoll’s sculptural art draws on the dichotomy and overlap of our sensory experiences of tactility and imagination. The eerie, ethereal atmosphere of Rosalyn Driscoll’s sculptural art draws on the dichotomy and overlap of our sensory experiences of tactility and imagination.
Our July Showcase opens with Kevin Griffin’s “Mountain Stream”. Griffin’s music invites us into the spontaneity of nature and thought, bringing the gentleness, rolling, and laughing of play into musical form.
Yasmin Kloth’s poem, “Footfall,” draws relationships between human footsteps and bullfrogs sprouting wings.
Enrico Natali’s stunning photographs emphasize the stark difference between the concrete world and what came before it.
Judith Chalmer’s imagery will take you from the cherry-patterned oilcloth to the thunder of nearby hills in her poem, “Purpose.”
Mathematics and shellacked kozo paper collide in this representation of the Fibonacci sequence by Patricia Aaron and Gin Pollock.
Jess Thoubboron’s essay muses over concepts of meditation and faith. Read and see if you agree with the conclusion this nun comes to.
Close your eyes for 6 minutes and let the gentle melodic textures of Suss Müsik’s ambient soundtrack take you to wherever you are in the moment.
Little-known fact: May 1 was World Labyrinth Day. In this essay Mary Lane Potter takes you along with her on a winding journey spanning 86 feet on Whidbey Island in Washington State. Along the way, Potter will demonstrate the magic of letting the path lead you inward where you discover the center of the labyrinth and the core of your being.
Jane Hirshfield’s poetry plumbs the depths of the human condition and offers us wisdom, gratitude, mystery, and a deep caring for all living things.
We begin our May Meditation Month Showcase with work by photographer, painter, jeweler, and meditation teacher, Carla Brennan. Carla captures the natural beauty of the central California coast and Western North Dakota with exquisite clarity in these photos.
We’re happy to announce Christien Gholson’s forthcoming chapbook, “The No One Poems,” Thirty West Publishing House. Several poems were first published on Leaping Clear!
For this Earth Day, Kazuaki Tanahashi’s big brush calligraphy painting evokes earth energy from the molten core and the moving land.
Kevin Griffin’s music hip hops lively rhythms around the consumer life—contemplative laughter you can dance to!
Amy Sugeno shares her richly textured language and brings to life the images, emotion, and power each moment can bring when we pay attention.
Deva Padma’s moving and restful video invites us to dwell in a meditation on the changing wonder of natural forms and the human face.
March 20, the 2022 equinox is near. For the past five years at this time, Leaping Clear editors have been attending to the final preparations to publish the Spring Issue.
Over the past few months, there have been many changes in our editorial team’s circumstances, in the technology we use to publish, and of course, in the world situation. All these conditions have led us to the conclusion that we will no longer publish Leaping Clear. The magazine will remain accessible for the next few months as we arrange for a permanent archive.